THE MOUNTAIN JEWS

Self-designation. In literature they have been referred to as Mountain
Jews, Tats and Dagchufuts.

Habitat. The majority of Caucasian Mountain Jews live in Dagestan, Kaitag
and Magaramkend (three settlements), and in Derbent and Makhachkala, they
can be found in a few Azerbaijani villages (Krasnaya Sloboda, Vartashen)
and in some towns. A small number have settled in North Caucasia -- Gorny
and Nalchik.

Population. The population is difficult to estimate, as during the censuses
the Mountain Jews have been counted as members of the overall Jewish community,
or as Tats whose language they speak. In 1926 they numbered approximately
26,000; in 1959 about 15,000 lived in Dagestan (the Russian Federation
total was 16,707) and more than 10,000 in Azerbaijan. In 1979 the overall
number of Jews in Dagestan was 19,000 and 35,000 in Azerbaijan, the percentage
of Mountain Jews is unknown.

Language. The Mountain Jews belong to the Iranian division of the Indo-European
languages. They speak Tat, a dialect of New-Persian. The same language
is spoken by the Tats of Azerbaijan and Dagestan to whom the Mountain Jews
have sometimes been considered to belong.

In terms of ethnic origin, it is assumed that the Mountain Jews and Tats
have inhabited Caucasia for a long time. Their distant forefathers once
lived in southern Azerbaijan, the north-western part of present-day Iran.
It was there that they adopted the Tat language but retained Judaism as
their faith (the Tats are Islamic). Having become largely assimilated,
the predecessors of the Mountain Jews settled on the west coast of the
Caspian Sea in the 5th--6th century and from that time on their history
has been related to the mountains and the people of Dagestan. They resettled
from the mountains to the coastal lowlands in the 18th--19th century but
carried the name Mountain Jews with them.

Any specific Mountain Jew features, distinguishing them from the Islamic
environment, originate in Judaism. In the villages (aouls) the Mountain
Jews settled in a part of their own, in towns they did the same, although
their dwellings did not differ from their neighbours'. The Mountain Jews
also took to wearing the highlanders' dress. Judaistic prohibitions ensured
they retained specific dishes and faith still enshrined in the rules for
family life.

If elsewhere in the Jewish diaspora it was forbidden to own and till land
(cf. the Jews of Central Asia), at the end of the 19th and the beginning
of the 20th century the Mountain Jews were farmers and gardeners growing
mainly grain. Their oldest occupation was rice-growing but raising silkworms
and tobacco was also popular. The Jewish vineyards were especially famous.
The Jews and their Armenian neighbours were the main producers of wine,
an activity banned for Muslims by religion. Judaism, in turn, strictly
limited any meat consumption and unlike their neighbours the Mountain Jews
raised few domestic animals.

At the same time they were renowned tanners. Tanning was the third most
important activity after farming and gardening and at the end of the 19th
century 6 % of Jews were engaged in this trade. Handicrafts and commerce
were mostly practiced by Jews in towns.

The Soviet authorities bound the Mountain Jews to collective farms but
allowed them to carry on in their traditional ways (they grew grapes, tobacco
and vegetables and made wine). However, the former isolated lifestyle of
the Jews has practically been eradicated and they now live side by side
with other ethnic groups.

Originally education was only for the boys who attended synagogue schools.
With sovietization Tat became the language of tuition at newly-founded
elementary schools. It remained so till the beginning of World War II.
The publication of the first native-language newspaper, Zakhmetkesh (Working
People), began in 1928. After the war Russian became the only acceptable
language at Dagestan schools and the publication of the newspaper stopped.
Today Mountain Jewish intellectuals are active in the Dagestan cultural
scene. Several of them are prominent actors and artists and there are writers
and poets. However, only amateur theatricals and concerts are there to
highlight their ethnic culture. All Mountain Jewish activities in Azerbaijan
are supressed by flourishing Azerbaijani chauvinism.